racing in GT CUP in UK this year, need help re racing simulator to purchase and set u

Hi, need some advise please, I am racing in GT Cup in UK this year and want to purchase a racing simulator set up, seat, Wheel, Screens and software, but I want to do this so I can get some practice in on the circuits I will be racing on such as Brands GP, Silverstone Inter and GP, Oulton Park, Snetterton and Donnington. Wanted to know what is the best game or software to use which has these circuits on and what the best equipment would be to buy. All help greatly appreciated. many thanks.

 

For hardware speak to http://www.vesaro.com/ in the UK. Depending on your budget they will have something to suit.

 

racing in GT CUP in UK this year, need help re racing simulator to purchase a...

+1 for vesaro. -100 for their website.

If I wanted something, after extensive research, this certainly looks best! I am due to visit them if I can or meet them at a gadget show to try it before still.

 

thanks for the info so far, much appreciated.

 

does this site/software have the relevant UK tracks which I listed?

 

No is the short, and off the top of my head I cannot think of a single title that has all the tracks.

rFactor 2 has Silverstone with an update due very soon. For the other circuits you would need to look at modders creations. Some very well done and accurate others not so much but I guess it depends exactly what you want to get from it.

If its a case of just to learn the basics of each track such as corners, rough racing lines and such then i'm sure it will meet your needs however if you need to feel every bump with mm accuracy then rFactor Pro may be the road to consider of which you would need to contact the team directly to discuss.

 

If you just want to learn the tracks, probably RF1 has them all. You just need to know that layout accuracy is variable as most of those tracks are made by third parties, with different techniques and with different resources. After finding the tracks you just need a car similar to those you will be racing with, and there are plenty I think.
If you are looking at a professional solution, then you need a product with scanned tracks, you can have higher fidelity and consistency, but, as always, you et what you pay for.

 

Third party mods vary in quality, but all are absolutely fine for learning the track layout and many are pretty damned accurate, using satellite imagery etc...and of course the bespoke ones from ISI (who make rFactor / rFactor 2) are brilliant.

 

Ha!....just realised i'm in their video from the gadget show 2 years back.

Didn't even realise it was a T500 i was using at the time but then again, all i could focus on was how violent the strength of vibrations were in the motion platform (in a good way).

But regardless of the rig you get pip, make sure you buy a Thrustmaster T500 over a fanatec csw....twice a much torque and more realistic wheel feedback. If you can afford more, a Leo Bodnar wheel is your next best choice (107x more torque than the T500).

 

Not exactly. But it is a mod supported community where by tracks are made by the wider community. I have yet to find a simulator with as much variation.

Tracks:

Silverstone GP layout (ISI)
Snetterton (Mod track)
Oulton park, not sure
Donnington, not sure

Where I am not sure, I am certain isi haven't made it. But that isn't the point this is intended that modders, with great skill. Can do just as good a job

 

Why this took so long to post is a mystery, please ignore.

 

Nothing wrong with my fanatec?

 

Depends what you mean by "wrong" and if its relative to something else.

 

Does it really have twice as much torque?

 

a big fat YES

If you compare the motors alone, the T500 produces 2-2.4x more torque.

 

Wow...

 

That was my exact impression when i bought a t500 coming from a CSR-Elite (that has exactly the same ffb as a CSW). Before i even knew about the torque values for the motors, my first impression was that the force-feedback strength felt at least double than the CSR-Elite's.

In practical terms, that translates to much better feel and confidence in any car and on any surface and your driving benefits from it. I would almost call it cheating compared to a CSR-Elite/CSW but that's not fair because the t500 represents how a £300+ wheel is supposed to perform.....for christ sakes, the CSW cost £600! I don't know what fanatec were drinking when they decided to use inkjet printer motors for their forcefeed-back.

I'm sure there's a lot of people with fanatec CSW wheels out there who are pissed off at me (i am sorry, lol) because i've been hammering on about it on the forums but i do so because I wish I knew about this when I was making my own decision between a fanatec wheel or a t500 a little over a year ago. More importantly, to have had advice by someone who has experience with both steering wheels. All i had to go on was the unfounded opinions of thread comparing the two wheels advising other people which wheel to go for despite non of them having tried both wheels and side-by-side.

I've told this to a few friends already, that if a CSW is worth £600, then a T500 should cost £1200....and that is certainly the impression i get every time i use it, it's unbelievable that the T500 sells for only £300. The logitech g27 costs around £220-280 in the uk and it has less than 25% the strength of a T500.....the maths simply doesn't make sense.

The Leo Bodnar wheel is the highest end you can want really. It's 107x stronger at only 7x the cost of a T500. But the thing is, you'll never use it at 100% force feedback, it's just too damn strong (read: dangerous!), lol. But despite that, it's still has a great price/ffb-strength ratio which would make it worth it if you can afford it. I was fortunate enough to test that sucker for a few hours over christmas and it's certainly the crème de la crème if your trying to mimic real-life to the fullest.

 

racing in GT CUP in UK this year, need help re racing simulator to purchase a...

Yeh it is ok, I better stop before we take away from the original context but before I do :/ sorry pip.

I own a fanatec gt3 rs v2 and don't mind if you say this or that at all I am happy with mine and have had great help from them with support. I can't understand why the disparity of price vs the motors they use.

If they are that weak :-( I much prefer their wheel design / options. But made my mind up some time ago that truely if I get into this properly, as I can't afford track days. I will just get a Leo bodnar

I am disappointed however as I would rather have the feed back strong and the design of the fanatec? Have you had information directly from them that assures the same motors are in the csw? Maybe they changed?

Still thanks for sharing the knowledge

Does anyone know if donnington is avail. I still think rf2 is a great choice for track practice, because I think the list of games with those tracks in it might be limited to arcade games.

Last I checked toca (yes 1) had all of em, not accurate for now either

The impending release of silver stone hopefully opens up the northern / southern circuit configs.

 

LOL!

 

I used it too here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEOYfUzkWuI

Certainly is strong!